After watching tv for a bit and seeing all these commercials and charities about helping the starving children in Africa and all these other countries and the people that are homeless kind of makes me sick. The sad truth is we have so many problems of our own and in many ways the third world countries we are trying to help are doing better than us. The barely subsisting or borderline homeless/poor and we start to see a very alarming trend that shows no sign of going away. Over 30% of Americans are on the borderline of poverty. A lot just do not quite make the cut to receive food stamps or some kind of benefits and live on a razor edge of desperation and starvation. The most shocking sight to see is homeless and starving children, living right near some of the richest neighborhoods!!!!! Right here in “humanitarian” America, home of the world’s largest “humanitarian” and “liberating” force (or is it FARCE?).This country is putting more and more of our citizens on the brink of homelessness and desperate poverty. In addition, it seems that we have pushed countless others over the brink and into the bottomless pit of despair and need.

All you have to do is look around, open your eyes, and you will see the vast sea of hungry and destitute. I have seen more and more children and families out on the street or in feeding centers and at food handouts. To think that the world’s richest country allows this to happen is Sickening! To think that we turn a blind eye to starving children because it is easier to tolerate than do something about it! We cannot afford to hire teachers, build new schools, or even maintain the ones we have. Our children slip farther into the void of illiteracy and neglect. We are the lowest among the industrialized “first” world nations in literacy scores! Many “third” world countries now have higher literacy rates than the U.S. We are setting ourselves up to turn the world’s richest country into a third world quagmire.We are setting ourselves up to turn the world’s richest country into a third world quagmire.

This country is sinking into a swamp of drowning poor and so-called “Economically Challenged!” The rich meanwhile buy bigger S.U.Vs, and bigger gated houses to keep out the flotsam and detritus of the cast always. A growing number of cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, and Atlanta, are criminalizing activities of the homeless, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. More than 60 cities are introducing measures to make it illegal to beg or sleep on the streets, to sit in a bus shelter for more than an hour, or to walk across a parking lot if the person doesn’t have a car parked there. 41% of all homeless are single males, 41% families, 13% single females, and 5% being unaccompanied minors. The homeless population is estimated to be 50% African American, 35% white, 12% Hispanic, 2% Native American, and 1% Asian. An average of 23% suffers from mental illness, 38% suffer from substance abuse, 10% are veterans, and 22% are employed.

President Bush claimed that his FY2004 budget “helps America meet its goals both at home and overseas.” Yet, upon examination of the budget numbers, the goals of many Americans appear not to have been included. 48% of people requesting food were families with children. 38% were currently employed at the time of the request. The leading reason for hunger was high housing costs, along with low paying jobs, unemployment and other employment related issues, economic downturn, medical and health costs, homelessness, poverty or lack of income, substance abuse, reduced public benefits, child care costs, mental health problems, and limited life skills being cited as the other leading causes of hunger. While the US is committed to at least two years of occupation in Iraq and possibly up to ten years, our own people slip into further poverty and starvation.

If the US spent just three months occupation costs, they could wipe out hunger and homelessness completely for ten years. However, it does not seem like feeding and sheltering our own citizens has a very high priority. It seems like it is not a priority to protect our children from starvation and living on the streets. Our education system is crumbling and the school breakfast and lunch programs are being slashed mercilessly.